Athletics News

Franklin declares victory with walk-off for A's

By
Jane Lee and Alex SimonMLB.com

OAKLAND -- Rookie Franklin Barreto took teammate Yonder Alonso's advice to heart, making good on an early-inning conversation with a walk-off home run that propelled the A's to a 7-6 victory over the White Sox at the Coliseum on Tuesday afternoon, snapping their six-game losing streak.

Barreto's day, which also included an RBI triple, began with a strikeout, after which Alonso took him aside in the dugout and told him he was a tad tardy with his swing. By the time Barreto stepped to the plate in the ninth inning -- after the White Sox had tied the game against Santiago Casilla on a Melky Cabrera single -- he had made the adjustment, connecting on the eighth pitch he saw from right-hander Tommy Kahnle and sending it just beyond the left-field wall.

OAKLAND -- Rookie Franklin Barreto took teammate Yonder Alonso's advice to heart, making good on an early-inning conversation with a walk-off home run that propelled the A's to a 7-6 victory over the White Sox at the Coliseum on Tuesday afternoon, snapping their six-game losing streak.

Barreto's day, which also included an RBI triple, began with a strikeout, after which Alonso took him aside in the dugout and told him he was a tad tardy with his swing. By the time Barreto stepped to the plate in the ninth inning -- after the White Sox had tied the game against Santiago Casilla on a Melky Cabrera single -- he had made the adjustment, connecting on the eighth pitch he saw from right-hander Tommy Kahnle and sending it just beyond the left-field wall.

"I made really good contact, and I felt it," Barreto said, through team interpreter Juan Dorado. "Luckily, it did go over the fence. It's always been a dream of mine to help the team win, and I finally got to realize that today."

"If you watch that at-bat unfold, he got more and more confident as it went along," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "Typically, that'll happen when you're seeing some pitches, fouling some balls off. For younger players, sometimes the big leagues can make you think twice, then you get into a position like that and hit a home run like he did, I know he's going to feel a lot more confident and comfortable tomorrow."

It was the second career home run for Barreto, who also homered in his big league debut in Chicago last weekend, and the fourth home run of the day for the A's, who got two from newly named first-time All-Star Alonso in the thrilling victory.

It marked the third career multi-homer game -- all of them coming this season -- for Alonso, whose home run total reached 19 following Tuesday's go-ahead shots in consecutive at-bats against White Sox right-hander James Shields. Matt Joyce also homered for Oakland, a two-run, game-tying blast in the third in response to Cabrera's two-run homer in the opening half of the inning.

Following a two-run fourth highlighted by Alonso's first homer, Chicago temporarily regained the lead against Oakland starter Daniel Gossett in the fifth on a three-run blast off the bat of Jose Abreu. But Alonso put the A's right back on top, 6-5, with a two-out, two-run knock in the bottom half of the frame, sending Shields out of the game right after White Sox manager Rick Renteria had come out to talk to him.

"He just said I got the next guy. I told him I was good to go, and it's on me," Shields said. "I left the ball up to Alonso. I need to do a better job out there of getting out. The fact that he had the faith in me, I need to do my job, bottom line."

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDRookies chip in: The A's have essentially lived and died by the long ball this year, and six of their seven runs tallied Tuesday came courtesy of home runs. But in a one-run game, Barreto's two-out RBI triple in the fourth inning proved to be a difference-maker. The add-on run was set up by fellow rookie Jaycob Brugman's walk. Both youngsters have fared well against Shields, who yielded first career homers to both players last weekend in Chicago.

"We were talking a little bit in the beginning of the game after his first at-bat, trying to give him a few pointers," Alonso said of Barreto. "He's special. He took it all in, made the adjustment, and then you saw what he did."

Sigh of relief:Ryan Madson's doings in the seventh inning were paramount to Oakland's victory. The veteran reliever inherited a baserunner with no outs as the White Sox turned their lineup over, and he squashed the threat with ease. After Omar Narvaez advanced to third on Adam Engel's sacrifice bunt, Madson turned his attention to the two men who homered earlier in the day, striking out Cabrera and knocking down a comebacker from Abreu for the third out to maintain the one-run lead. Lefty Sean Doolittle pitched a scoreless eighth, ahead of Casilla's ninth-inning adventures.

"There's no room for error when these guys come in in those situations," Melvin said. "Right away, Madson has to come in with somebody on base. The bullpen pitched well today."

QUOTABLE"Tip your cap to the kid over there because he battled him and put a really good at-bat together. Ended up getting a pitch he could handle that he ended up driving pretty well and it got out. Tip your cap because that's just baseball." -- Renteria, on Barreto

WHAT'S NEXTWhite Sox: For the White Sox, right-hander Mike Pelfrey will start Wednesday's 2:35 p.m. CT series finale before the team travels to Denver. Pelfrey (3-6, 4.13) is coming off of a rough outing against the Rangers June 30, when he allowed five runs in five innings.

A's: The A's will send right-hander Sonny Gray to the mound for Wednesday's 12:35 p.m. PT series finale matchup with the White Sox. Gray has a 1.20 ERA over his last two starts.